ATHENS — On short notice against the No. 1 defense in the country in terms of yards per play allowed, Gunner Stockton came in and led Georgia to an SEC Championship victory.
With Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck now dealing with a reported UCL injury on his throwing arm, Stockton may once again be asked to lead Georgia’s offense. Beck’s status for the Sugar Bowl is still undetermined, according to the team.
Georgia has done its best to have Stockton prepared to play at a moment’s notice.
“I certainly think there’s no good script, right, for losing a quarterback or having to go to your backup,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said on Sunday. “There’s not a great script for it. It certainly wasn’t a great script last night to have to do it against the number one team in the country on defense, and to have to do that at halftime was tough.
“But this situation does give you time if that’s what has to happen. I mean, there is time there. But, I mean, experience is so valuable, and you can’t really get experience in this amount of time. I wish he’d gotten more game experience up to this point in time.”
Stockton, a former four-star prospect out of Rabun County, is known as a dual-threat quarterback. Should Stockton start in the Sugar Bowl, it would be his first collegiate start. He’s played in four games this season, throwing for 206 yards while completing 25 of his 32 attempts.
In the SEC Championship game, Stockton completed 12 of his 16 pass attempts for 71 yards. He had a costly interception that set up Texas’ game-tying drive.
However, he made key plays with his legs in overtime, including an 8-yard run to set up Georgia’s winning touchdown. Stockton’s helmet was knocked off during a hit on the penultimate play of the game, sidelining him for the final play. Smart has said Stockton is “fine” and was not injured during the hit.
“You know, he comes in, works hard every day,” Trevor Etienne said. “You know, he’s probably played this moment 1,000 times at practice. Just tonight he was able to show the world what he can do. I’m just proud of him, super proud.”
“The team has a lot of confidence in Gunner,” Smart said. “He’s very smart, very intelligent. So I don’t know that it’s a lot of change. It’s probably more picking the volume correctly in terms of not having everything that we have with Carson, but having things that fit Gunner.”
Stockton would not be the first backup quarterback in recent years to lead a team to on a national title run. Cardale Jones did so for Ohio State back in 2014 after he replaced JT Barrett starting in the conference championship game. Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts at halftime of the 2018 National Championship Game against Georgia and led the Crimson Tide to a national title.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
